Ratchet & Clank: When a Hero Falls
by Rickudemus
Summary: The mission Ratchet and Clank were sent to do doesn't really go all according to plan and Clank can't help but blame himself for the failure. (Dedicated for my sister, Gothicruby)


I watched as the robots gained on us and listened to the explosions that were happening behind me. The world quickly turned around and I could see some of the explosions, while my partner was destroying the robots that were after us. It almost felt like a carousel at times.

"Clank! I could use your helipack!" The lombax yelled as he jumped from a platform and I did just what he asked. He steered us into safety, or should I say, into a place with less robots and explosions. My partner, Ratchet, kept his eyes sharp and his guns hot as he made sure the robots wouldn't get any closer to us.

"Ratchet, that building! It's there!" I yelled to get myself heard over the loud noises surrounding us, but I should know better that he was always paying attention to my words (even when he looked like he was ignoring me, but that was just his way of teasing me).

Sounding exhausted, Ratchet ran towards the building inside a huge, snow-filled mountain, shooting the door down and rushing inside. He kept shooting the robots down that were following us and eventually, things turned quiet. Or as it would seem to us, too quiet.

"Oh man..." Ratchet placed his hands on his knees while bending over and let out heavy, quick breaths. "It's really... Difficult to... Battle in this... Freezing planet..." He tried explaining as I jumped off of his back and looked around for what we were here for.

"Look here, Ratchet." I walked towards a big screen with a keyboard right under it. "Perhaps the disc is in this computer."

"Yeah." My friend walked over to me, looking around the computer, not seeing any places where a disc could be placed. "Where, though?" He took a few long breaths, scratching his head in confusion.

"I'm not sure. It could also be that this computer offers a clue." I suggested, to which Ratchet nodded in agreement.

"Well, you're the nerd." He smiled at me as he gestured with his hand towards the computer, giving me a sign that he allowed me to take care of it. After all, he wasn't too good with hacking computers and such.

"Let's see..." There was a small port on the side of the keyboard, where I could fit the hacking device in my finger and as I did that, I began to see into the computer right away. Unfortunately, it was a big mistake. The alarm went off and walls came down from the ceiling, blocking the entrance and the windows. There were small holes in the metal walls, giving the only light source along with the computer screen and it certainly made things a lot darker than before.

"What the-!" Ratchet panicked, watching helplessly as the walls came down, taking out his weapon again.

"Oh no! I am so sorry! I wasn't able to stop this!" I apologized, feeling bad that the security had turned on because of my bad hacking attempt. I wasn't even sure what exactly went wrong.

"Don't sweat it. Just be on the lookout." Ratchet said as he crouched, glaring everywhere he could. Laughing could be heard from all around us, making us both confused and then we looked at the screen to see who it was.

"Dr. Nefarious!" Ratchet snapped, growling at him as the evil robot lord kept with his manical enjoyment.

"Indeed, my dear, interfering rodent! Looks like I was the smarter one this time! Aaahahahahaa!" Nefarious laughed loudly, which made me grow angry that he had gotten a strike on my pride.

"You won't get away with this! We'll find a way out and take back the disc you stole from the president!" Trying badly to threaten, Nefarious just chuckled at me.

"Certainly, I would love to see you try! The cage you're in now isn't that easy to penetrate, although, you are free to try!" Nefarious laughed once again. "Oh, and just so you know, the disc isn't in that room. To be honest, it's not even on the entire planet! I was just tricking you! The factory is actually useless to me at this point, so I decided to blow it up!" He leaned closer in the screen as he spoke calmly. "Rest in pieces, you mischiefs. HA HA! Did you hear that, Lawrence? In PIECES!" Nefarious laughed in glee at his own joke, which was just as bad as any of his other jokes.

"Yes, quite remarkable, sir." Lawrence spoke from behind his boss, handing over a remote to said crazy robot.

"Have fun." Nefarious sneered, pressing the button. The screen went empty and the whole place began to shake.

"Oh s**t." Ratchet cursed, trying to look a quick way out. He tried shooting at the wall with different weapons, even trying his wrench, but nothing worked. Both of us were growing nervous. "Okay, no panic. The place will just blow up. Us in it. Any ideas?" Ratchet gave me a desperate grin, but I couldn't think of any way out. The walls were just too strong.

"I uh..." I was trying to think of something as quick as possible, but somewhere near us, explosions were started to occur. We were in deep trouble.

"We don't have much time..." Ratchet said with a more serious tone, obviously being quite scared now.

"I'm so sorry!" I apologized again, looking around and trying to find a way out, but the more I began to panic, the less I could think straight. "I-I'll fix this! It was my error, so I'll have to-!"

"There's no time!" Suddenly, Ratchet grabbed me by my hand and looked me straight in the eyes. "Go hide and call the others! Try staying safe!"

"Wha- What are you talking about?!" I stared at him in worry, but he just smiled at me assuringly.

"You're the bestest friend anyone could wish for." He replied and before I could say anything he took his stance and threw me out of the little hole in the wall. I went through the hole and a window, falling down on the ground and rolling down the snowy mountain to the very bottom. Once I stopped, I quickly stood up and watched as the laboratory began blowing up.

"NO!" I yelled out, trying to climb up the mountain to my friend whom I wasn't even able to help at this point. I knew it, but I didn't want to accept it; Ratchet was not going to die this way! "RATCHET!" I began to run; parts were flying towards me and I tried my best to dodge them. I couldn't just leave him like this!

"RATCHET!" Trying to call for him, I jumped on the ground to dodge a wall piece five times bigger then me, hoping that it would not hit me. As it flew above me, landing not too far from me, I kept on going. I was near the burning building, the explosions mostly happening elsewhere now. As I got near the spot where I had landed when Ratchet had thrown me, I noticed drops of blood. They were leading me to my right and going along the path of blood, I saw the body of my friend in the snow, extremely badly injured. "Ratchet!" Calling him, I ran to him, turning him on his back and shaking him, attempting to wake him up. "Please, wake up! Why did you do that!"

A huge explosion occured, destroying a tall monument of some sort at the top of the laboratory and the top part of it was now falling in our direction. Desperately, I tried moving my friend out of the way, although it was quite pointless. I closed my eyes, hopeless beyond belief. When I was sure we would be crushed by the monument, something grabbed us and left the situation with fast speed. Opening my eyes, I saw Talwyn and Cronk standing at the entrance of their small ship, Talwyn holding on to the doorway and my hand and Cronk, who was keeping a tight grip on Ratchet. They pulled us in the spaceship, sounding quite panicky over the situation as well.

"Are you alright?!" Talwyn asked in worry, to which I couln't reply. Cronk watched Ratchet as he just laid on the floor of the ship, badly wounded.

"He's not... Moving." He said, making Talwyn instantly run to him.

"No, Ratchet! Wake up, Ratchet! Oh no..." She kneeled down next to Ratchet, carefully raising his head on her knees. "What happened!" She looked at me in shock, which made me feel worry and guilt beyond anything I've ever felt before

I sat on my place, leaning against the wall and looking down in sorrow. I wasn't able to answer her. What could I have possibly said? That it was my fault? That I caused this to my best friend by being careless? No, how could I say that; how could I say that he'd die because of me?

* * *

Slowly opening my eyes, I raised my head and looked up tiredly. Looking to the left, I remembered where I was again; the recovery room. Falling asleep always made me live the moment again when-

That's right, Ratchet.

When he was brought here, he was barely alive. To be honest, he did die, but they were able to get his heartbeat back. It had been one of the scariest moments of my life, I must say, but even now I could agree that it was still like so. It had been three months and not once had Ratchet opened his eyes. He was breathing, he was living, but he was not awake.

Every day, I would sit on the chair and wait for him to wake up. I would talk to him, tell him stupid jokes that made him laugh, tell what had been going on in the world and the Starship Phoenix that we were in. I told him everything I could think of without leaving his side. So often, I would find myself apologizing and wishing for him to wake up and forgive me for my mistake. Had I been more careful, this would not have happened.

Talwyn, Cronk and Zephyr tell me that the alarm would have gone off anyway, since Dr. Nefarious had been keeping an eye on us, so he would have trickered the trap either way. How they found this out, is beyond me, but it could have been that they were just trying to cheer me up. Be as it may, I still couldn't help, but blame myself for it. We would have had more time to escape together, had it not been for me.

"There's a new arena opening up." I said with a normal tone as I climbed on the bed, sitting down on the edge of it. I didn't dare to look at Ratchet's face, though. "You're going to miss it." I looked down on the floor, knowing that it would not wake him. I had tried everything, but nothing had been able to reach him. The doctor we had gotten to patch him up, said that it was possible for Ratchet not to wake up at all. That I would not believe; Ratchet was not the type to give up and die like that. He had survived worse things that were out there.

Right?

The door opened and soft steps headed in my way. The person stopped in front of me, giving a quick, worried glance at Ratchet and then at me. "Clank."

"I already told you, I'm not going anywhere before he wakes up." I answer before she has the opportunity to say anything.

"I know this is hard for you... It's hard for all of us... But you can't go on like this." Talwyn explained, kneeling before me and looking into my eyes. "He wouldn't want you to go on living like this; sitting here, watching him and waiting for him to wake up. You should give yourself a break."

"No." I reply sharply.

"But, Clank-" She argued, which I would not let her finish.

"No!" I looked away from her, feeling, and probably looking a little bit angry by this point. "I'm waiting for him to wake up. I need to wait for him to wake up." We both remained silent for a short while, which forced me to add more to my words. "I... Owe it."

"Oh, Clank..." Talwyn slowly hugged me, letting out a stressed sigh. I hugged her back and gave her a "smile" as she pulled back.

"Don't be sad, ms. Apogee. It's what I have to do. I'm sorry to worry you." I let out a faint laugh, which made Talwyn smile a little.

"It can't be helped. It's in the nature of both of you." She walked towards the door, me following her with my eyes.

"Ms. Apogee?" I called out and she stopped at the door, not turning to face me.

"Hm?"

"Don't cry. He'll make it through. I know it." I assured her, which made her let out a shaky chuckle.

"Whose crying?" She replied, leaving the room. I watched her go, then turned to Ratchet, who was just as lifeless as he's been for a while now.

Sighing, I laid down next to him, staring at the ceiling with melancholy taking over my mind once again. Being completely honest with myself, I wasn't even fully sure if I believed him to wake up anymore. I wanted to fully believe that he would certainly wake up, but... I couldn't.

"You're so selfish, Ratchet." I blurted out. Had I been able to shed tears, I would have definitely cried. Not just at this moment, but many other times in the past. "Why would you not wake up?" Slight anger filled my tone, which was a complete accident. "How could you scare all the people that love you so much?" I looked up to him, seeing no signs of him waking up.

Sighing again, I looked away, leaning against his side a little bit. "I miss you." I closed my eyes, feeling the emptiness grow again inside me, which was such an odd feeling.

"Sorry."

My eyes shot open and I quickly sat up, turning my eyes towards my lombax companion; nothing. His eyes were still closed and his body seemed lifeless. I turned away, placing my hand on my forehead and letting out a groan. I was beginning to hear things. Maybe Talwyn was right after all.

"I missed you too."

I lowered my hand down slowly. I wasn't hearing things. I couldn't have. Slowly turning around to face my friend again, I was finally able to see it; his eyes were partly open. "Ratchet?" I carefully asked, as if my voice could have hurt him.

"Clank." He smiled softly, making me jump on his chest and hug him like I've never hugged him before. I wasn't supposed to let myself go out of hand like this, but the happiness that I felt was more than I thought I could handle. I was overflowing with it. "I'm being smothered by love, apparently." Ratchet commented as he hugged me back, but I pulled back before he could do much of it.

"I was just getting a bit bored by the lack of noise." I said with a tone that sounded to lack interest, but I knew Ratchet would detect so much more from it. I could say anything I pleased, he would know when I was lying.

"You've been doing that for the both of us in the meantime, I've heard." Ratchet let out a chuckle, which made me a bit confused.

"What ever do you mean?" I asked in wonder.

"When does the arena open up?" He asked instead, which made me drop my jaw.

"You actually heard me?"

"Of course. I'm not deaf, even if I am in a coma." He chuckled again, giving me an exhausted smile. "Sorry for being so selfish. I just couldn't pull myself to wake up." He said with a joking tone in his voice.

"Oh... No." I instantly felt guilty and looked at the floor sadly as I sat down on the edge of the bed again. "I should be saying that."

"Say what?" This time, Ratchet asked in confusion.

"I'm sorry." I said sadly and before Ratchet could say anything, I continued. "It was my fault that this happened. I should have been more careful. I almost got you kil-"

"Shove it." Ratchet snapped as he attempted to sit up, letting out a painful groan. I stood up, pushing him back down in worry, not wanting him to hurt himself more than necessary.

"You're not fully healed yet. The wounds were really bad and they-"

"Clank, shut up." Ratchet said rudely, which made me freeze in my place. It was a tone I had never heard being forwarded to me. "I made a choice. Respect that."

"Respect what?" I glared at him, snapping at him as well. "A choice to die?!"

"I didn't plan on dying, I just wanted you safe!" Ratchet yelled, letting out a low growl.

"I didn't need to be safe without you!" I yelled back, which made us both fall into silence. It was quite awkward, I must admit.

"Ah, pal..." Ratchet let out a laugh as he grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hug; of course, I returned the hug, chuckling in rejoice. "It's been too long. It's been difficult to hear the amount of apologizes that came out of your mouth all this time."

"I'm sorry." I said, receiving a small glare from Ratchet. "Ah, I mean, uh... Um..."

"Never mind." Ratchet pushed me away, taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes. He smiled in relief, which made me feel very happy inside.

"Want me to go get the others?" I asked him, making him open his eyes and raise his eyebrows a bit.

"Not yet. I feel a little tired. I'm fine with just you being here for now." He grinned, growling lowly as he moved; I imagined his body was aching all over, which must've been frustrating since he was a very lively person.

"Then rest. You will need that before Helga forces you to catch up on your excercising." As I said that, the relaxed look on his face faded.

"Ah, crud."

"Don't worry. I'm sure she won't be too rough on you. I think..."

"Well, as long as I'm not alone, I can tolerate it." He grinned, giving me a playful punch on the shoulder.

"I've got your back. Literally." I chuckled at my joke and so did he. He closed his eyes again with a smile, placing his hands on his chest. Carefully, I lay down next to him, putting my hands the same way he did.

As I closed my eyes, I heard Ratchet speak kindly. "Good night, pal."

"Good night, Ratchet." I replied, the melancholy in me disappearing more as it was being replaced by joy. The amount of fear and worry I had had for my friend had been wearing me down, but I began to understand a saying, one that I heard somewhere once, more now than I did before.

_Without melancholy, there can't be happiness._

I just wish it hadn't played with the life of the most important person in my life, but I couldn't hold a grudge; I know he wasn't going to. Still, at the very moment, I couldn't be happier to have him back.


End file.
